Book Blast: Power Play, Pilots Hockey #2 by Sophia Henry

Power Play
Pilots Hockey #2

By: Sophia Henry

Released February 16^th, 2016
Flirt

Power Play

Pilots Hockey Series

In Sophia Henry’s blistering follow-up to Delayed Penalty, hailed as “sexy, fun, and full of angst” by L. P. Dover, a good girl and a hockey hunk face off against expectations—and this match is guaranteed to see plenty of action.

Beneath her innocent facade, Gabriella Bertucci has her reasons to be standoffish with guys. Especially guys like Landon Taylor, a star defenseman on the minor-league Detroit Pilots and the object of a serious crush since he first walked into her family’s market. But when Landon comes through for her in a moment of crisis, Gaby starts to wonder if there might be more to Landon than hard muscles and fast skates.

Landon isn’t afraid of telling Gaby that he’s got it for her bad. The problem is, she seems unwilling to believe it. And though Landon enjoys his reputation as a cool-headed athlete, he hates losing—both on the rink and off. It’s his competitiveness that makes him so damn good at what he does . . . but it also makes him just a little bit complicated.

One minute Gaby’s tempted to give in; the next, she’s getting cold feet. How can she trust a guy who’s destined for bigger and better things to stick around? Then again, when Landon pulls her close with those powerful arms, the only thing that matters is right now.

I circled the room in slow motion. If it was possible to be completely creeped out and in awe at the same time, that was how I felt. The graffiti scared me. A gang member could walk in, paint cans drawn, at any minute. Then again, I’m pretty sure Mafia guys walked in to Bertucci Produce on a regular basis, so I guess danger could be anywhere.
“What are you thinking?” Landon asked. He climbed onto a step at the bottom of one of the columns, wrapped one arm around it, and hung off. Like someone familiar with stripper poles.
“You don’t want to know.” I shook my head, laughing off my thoughts.
Landon grabbed the column with his extended arm and jumped down. “I do. You’re really quiet. I can’t tell if you’re freaked out or what?”
“A little freaked out. This place is creepy on the inside. But cool. Creepy cool.”
I snapped a few more shots of the interior, trying to get the daylight streaming through the windows. I wanted to capture the haunted feel; a halo, a shadow, something.
“Creepy cool. Haunted. Abandoned. I just described our whole fucking life as Detroiters, eh?” A bitter laugh escaped him.
“I know, right? I don’t know one person without a painful story.”
“What’s yours?”
“Hmm?” I lowered the camera.
“What’s your story? I see a shy girl from a successful family.”
“Success comes with hard work.”
“I never said it didn’t.”
“My story? Arson. Murder. Most recently theft.” I ticked off the tragedies that my family had gone through, and those were only the ones that affected me directly. It sounded like a suspense novel.
“Holy shit, Gaby.”
“I should be in jail, right?” I smiled to lighten the mood. “But this is Detroit.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
A beam of sunlight bounced off a piece of broken glass in the debris covering the floor, creating a prism across one of the large columns. Sunshine and rainbows and murder and arson.

Life. And death.

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Sophia Henry, a proud Detroit native, fell in love with reading, writing, and hockey all before she became a teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating with an English degree from Central Michigan University, she moved to North Carolina, where she spends her time writing books featuring hockey-playing heroes, chasing her two high-energy sons, watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings, and rocking out at concerts with her husband.

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New Release Spotlight: Blown Away by Brenda Rothert

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In a sensual, emotionally charged novel of love and loss, a tender affair gives two daring storm chasers the strength to overcome shattered dreams and the courage to build a future together.

Drew McGovern is living for two. Her fiancé, Colby, used to savor the feeling of a powerful gale, the rain pelting his face as the sky grew dark—until a shocking tragedy struck him down. Drew’s still grieving his death a year later when she bumps into some of his old storm chasing buddies. For reasons she can’t explain, she volunteers for the next tornado. But when she reconnects with Colby’s best friend, Aiden O’Neal, Drew gets a breath of fresh air that stirs the ashes of her broken heart.

Aiden doesn’t trust himself around Drew. He’s wanted this girl for a long time—long enough to remember the stab of jealousy he felt the first time he saw her in Colby’s arms, long enough to remember the tears that fell as they buried the man they each still miss. Now he’s trying his best to behave himself. But when the wind ruffles Drew’s hair and puts a sparkle in her eye, Aiden can’t resist the urge to hold her close. And when it comes to true love, he’s holding out hope that lightning strikes twice.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Cindy Jameson ran a hand over her freshly highlighted blond hair as she approached the salon’s reception desk.

“I love it,” I said of her new cut, color and style.

“Me too,” she said, grinning. “When I hit the lotto I’m hiring Shayla as my personal stylist.”

I smiled and typed a few numbers into the computer, giving her a total for her visit.

“So how are you, Drew?” She took out her checkbook and gave me a sympathetic look.

I’d gotten used to the look. In a small town like Lipton, everyone knew everyone. For the past year, I’d been unable to go anywhere without getting the look. I reminded myself it was because people cared.

Well, mostly. It was sometimes because they were gossips mining for information.

“I’m good,” I said, busying my hands with organizing papers on the desk.

“Really?” Cindy’s tone was skeptical.

I sighed inwardly. Cindy had been in my high school class. We hadn’t been close then. I was tired of people who actually knew me asking how I was, let alone people like her.

Besides, when I said I was good, I either got a skeptical no, you’re not look or a surprised you must be a cold bitch look. I couldn’t win.

“Really,” I said, taking the check she handed me.

“Are you seeing anyone?”

Last week had marked one year since Colby’s death. Everyone knew it because of an article in the local paper with the headline, one year later, mother honors son’s life. Carla had set up a scholarship fund with Colby’s life insurance money. I’d cried—happy tears, for once—when she told me about it. It would’ve made him proud.

But now that it had been a year, people were focused on my social life. Or rather, lack thereof.

“No,” I said to Cindy. “Between work and friends and family, I’m pretty busy.”

It was sort of true. My only friends were Shayla and Jackie. I was living in the basement apartment at Shayla’s house. As soon as Daniel moved for school, I’d left our mom’s house, too. There was nothing good left there. And those marathons of Law and Order I watched every weekend, well, they were close enough to friends.

“Do you feel ready?”

I tried not to cringe. Another no-win question.

“Because I know someone,” Cindy continued. “My brother’s friend Zane. Remember him? He was three years ahead of us in school.”

“Uh . . .” I tried to think of a tactful way to brush off the idea. Truth was, looking for a man had never been my style. I hadn’t been looking for Colby when I’d run into him at the grocery store. Specifically, the produce section. He’d loved telling the story of how he impressed me with his melon-squeezing skills.

“Drew!” Jackie cried from behind her styling chair. “Crap, I am so sorry. I need some color mixed right now. I ran out.”

I shook myself out of the daze I was in. “Oh.”

“Call me sometime,” Cindy said, waving and ducking out of the salon.

I went to the small room where the stylists mixed hair color and looked around, confused. I’d never mixed color before, and Jackie knew it.

Peeking around the doorframe, I looked at her. “Do you really need color mixed?”

“No. I just wanted to get rid of Cindy. Since when is your personal life any of her business?”

Brenda Rothert is an Illinois native who was a print journalist for nine years. She made the jump from fact to fiction in 2013 and never looked back. From new adult to steamy contemporary romance, Brenda creates fresh characters in every story she tells. She’s a lover of Diet Coke, chocolate, lazy weekends and happily ever afters.

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